I messed up!

I slipped up…. AGAIN….

I continue to be disappointed in myself because I have this sin, this ugly thing, that I battle on and off.

I wonder, Is God mad at me?

Is God disappointed with me?

I want God to be pleased with me, perhaps He will bless me more if I can just get this right. If I can just do more good and stop this ugly thing.

Can anyone relate?

Sometimes we are so hard on ourselves. We are quick to condemn our failures and faults and to come to a point where we want to give up because we are convinced that God is tired of our continual mess ups.

My friends, I dare you to read this story differently today.

John 8:1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Think about this……

This woman was caught in her sin. It was the law of the Old Testament that she be stoned to death. And how quick EVERYONE gathered around to cast accusation upon her. As Jesus stood there, He didn’t deny the law, did He?

In His great wisdom, He turned the accusations back upon the accusers.

But what we miss in this story is that there was someone in the crowd who WAS WITHOUT SIN.

Do you know who it was?

Jesus!

He is the only person legitimately entitled to cast a stone of justice and punishment upon this guilty woman. What blows my mind is that Christ wasn’t the accuser. No, he was her recue.

And as this woman who looked at her liberator with a tear-stained face, trembling under the rush of adrenalin, entered into an encounter with love and forgiveness.

She encountered God!

As the accusers slipped silently away, the love from her Savior’s eyes flooded her soul. A lifetime of pain, soul wounds, rejection, and failures, also slipped away. She met grace in a moment of time and this single encounter released her from a lifetime of condemnation and shame.

She wasn’t without sin. But He loved her.

She knew the law and was in rebellion against God. But He loved her.

Her failures, her pain, her sins fell away, silent. Because He loved her.

It’s out of this revelation of His love that she departed knowing that his last words, “Go now and leave your life of sin,” wasn’t a command but a decree for her freedom.

His love and acceptance became her revelation and empowerment that she would not sin again.

Whoa!

I don’t know about you but for me, I focus too many times on the areas where I miss the mark, sin, and failure. But I’m beginning to see that our God is not just tolerating me. He is enjoying me.

The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the new Testament, reflected in Jesus. He is not reluctant to love us. Nor does He need convincing through our good works. He loves us just as we are, sin and all.

It’s out of His tremendous love that we are truly set free from our pain, addictions, tribulations and rebellion. It’s His love that leads us to repentance and not performance.

Oh Jesus,

I’m asking for the Spirit of Revelation and Wisdom to overwhelm my soul today. I ask you to encounter me with this kind of life-changing love. I ask you to reveal to me Your love in increasing measure. Let me see you as the overcomer in the dark as well as in the light. Let me release my guilt and to walk in childlike faith as a son/daughter who is loved by a good Father. AMEN

My Child,

I love you

Happy Valentines Day

Love, Your Good Father